Well the regular season (and hopefully cold weather) is approaching here in NC. I saved up my money and bought a 16 ft rig and put a pop-up blind on it. I painted a bunch of old mallards like bbills (thanks to ScaupHunter for the how-to), rigged up a few longlines and now its time to start scouting.

My problem is, I am not sure how to begin scouting for divers when they are not really showing up yet here in NC. I found the lake that I plan to hunt, at the end of last season, but without a boat I was never able to really get out and see where the birds were located, just watched them flying over.

Can anyone give me some ideas of what to start looking for, both from aerial photos and from actually getting out on the water? I want to have several preliminary spots picked out before the birds start to show up, and I have a fairly long drive down from school to the lake, so I hope to make the most out of my scouting trips.

Look for points and coves. And if you can, find them in places that are easily seen from the rest of the big water. Then get in there and check the depth so you know if your rigs will work the way you want them to in that spot. Make sure you write down the depth numbers on a chart so you know how you will set your long lines when you get there to hunt. In each location, try to figure out where you will set up the boat and rigs. Use historical data to make educated guesses on wind direction.

I agree...points are the way to go in my opinion. Divers dont care much to fly over any land, so they will swing near shorelines, meaning they will be closer to land when they get to a point. I have hunted by this rule for the past 10 years of big water diver hunting and have had great success.

Quoted from my wife while I am tapping on my iPad, "Are you talking about ducks again?"Me, "Yep".